1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aroma generating apparatus and method in a cooking apparatuses and, more particularly, to a cooking apparatus having an aroma generating apparatus and method capable of generating aromas corresponding to food to be cooked.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cooking fumes and smells are produced from food cooked in a cooking chamber of a cooking apparatus such as a microwave oven, an electric rice cooker using an electricity as a cooking energy source, and a gas range and a gas oven using gas as a cooking energy source. Depending on a cooking operation, smoke and gas remain in the cooking chamber and are spread around the cooking apparatus even after the cooked food is removed from the cooking apparatus.
Regarding a conventional cooking apparatus, FIG. 6 shows a microwave oven 101 having a main body 103 formed with both a cooking chamber 105 and a component chamber 107 and an external case 109 surrounding the main body 103 and defining an external appearance of the microwave oven 101. In front of cooking chamber 105 is mounted a door 111 opening and closing a front opening part of cooking chamber 105, and a control panel 113 having a keyboard 115 is installed adjacent to door 111.
A tray 117 upon which food to be cooked rests is placed on a bottom of cooking chamber 105. In component chamber 107 are housed a high voltage transformer (HVT) 119 generating a high voltage, a magnetron 123 generating electromagnetic waves by means of the high voltage generated by HVT 119, and a fan 121 drawing outdoor air into component chamber 107. When a cooking menu and cooking conditions corresponding to the cooking menu are selected by a user through keyboard 115, controller activates magnetron 123 to generate the electromagnetic waves and supplies the generated electromagnetic waves to cooking chamber 105, thereby cooking the food placed in cooking chamber 105.
This conventional microwave oven, however, is not provided with a function of supplying a food aroma corresponding to the cooking menu and removing the food aroma generated during cooking the food. Therefore, the user can not smell the food being cooked in the microwave oven before the food is cooked. Moreover, the user feels unpleasant when smoke and gas remain around the microwave oven after cooking operation.
In consideration of the tendency of many consumers preferring a cooking apparatus having various and supplementary functions or being easy to use, a microwave oven is needed to be equipped with an aroma generating device for diffusing a variety of aromas corresponding to a selected food in order to stimulate the user's appetite while the user is waiting the food cooked. In addition, if the food aroma remained in and around the microwave oven after cooking operation can be removed, the air dispersed around and contained in the microwave oven can be maintained more pleasantly to the user. Furthermore, if an aroma good for a human beings health is generated while the microwave oven is in no operation, this would serve to improve our health.